Lesson Overview During this lesson students will learn about convergent, divergent, and transform plate boundaries. Students will also learn what happens at these boundaries. Students will perform a graham cracker activity to help students see what happens at the plates through the models they will be creating.
Objectives
1. Students will be able to explain divergent, convergent and transform plate boundaries.
2. Students will be able to explain what happens at these boundaries.
3. Students will be able to apply this knowledge to the models they create.
Materials Graham crackers Plastic knives Frosting Plates Activity sheet Cup of water
Safety Issues Students must wash their hands before they begin and after they do this lab
Instruction
Opening Question of the day: Where do mountains and valleys come from? When class begins I will ask if anyone has ever climbed a mountain? Where do mountains come from? What do mountains have to with plate tectonics? The discussion should take off at this point, and the teacher will lead into what is on the agenda for the day, plate boundaries. (5 min)
Learning Activities Animations and power point slides will cover the three types of plate boundaries. Before the teacher tells the students what occurs at each boundary the teacher will attempt to get the students to infer what might happen based on what they have already learned about sea-floor spreading and the density of the earth’s layers. For example, students will view an animation of a convergent plate boundary. The teacher will ask questions like what is happening in this animation? What is that called? Where have we seen this before? Etc. Students will also be taught at what boundaries rift valleys and mountain ranges form. The same types of questions will be asked. When students are viewing the animations, the teacher will ask these questions while circulating the room.
After the lecture, students will be paired to do the graham cracker activity. The activity sheet will be handed out. Students will collect the materials they need to perform the activity. Students will answer the question on the activity sheet. (45 min)
Closing The teacher will wrap the class up with a discussion about the graham cracker activity. Any questions that were not completed the students will do for homework. Students will also be informed about reviewing the structure of the earth sheet, plate tectonics and sea-floor spreading. The teacher should let the students know that she will be available after school that day if any students need extra help or would like to review. (5 min)
Assessment Students will be informally assessed during the activity as the teacher walks around the room listening to the student’s discussion and checking for understanding.
Homework Students should review the structure of the earth with density information from the web quest worksheet, the theory of plate tectonics and sea floor spreading for quiz.
Additional Notes The information for the graham cracker activity was modified from www.science-class.net
Unit: Plate Tectonics
Title: Where do mountains and valleys come from?
Lesson Overview
During this lesson students will learn about convergent, divergent, and transform plate boundaries. Students will also learn what happens at these boundaries. Students will perform a graham cracker activity to help students see what happens at the plates through the models they will be creating.
Objectives
Materials
Graham crackers
Plastic knives
Frosting
Plates
Activity sheet
Cup of water
Links to Resources
**http://www.classzone.com/books/earth_science/terc/content/visualizations/es0804/es0804page01.cfm?chapter_no=visualization**Animations for plate boundaries
Safety Issues
Students must wash their hands before they begin and after they do this lab
Instruction
Opening
Question of the day: Where do mountains and valleys come from? When class begins I will ask if anyone has ever climbed a mountain? Where do mountains come from? What do mountains have to with plate tectonics? The discussion should take off at this point, and the teacher will lead into what is on the agenda for the day, plate boundaries.
(5 min)
Learning Activities
Animations and power point slides will cover the three types of plate boundaries. Before the teacher tells the students what occurs at each boundary the teacher will attempt to get the students to infer what might happen based on what they have already learned about sea-floor spreading and the density of the earth’s layers. For example, students will view an animation of a convergent plate boundary. The teacher will ask questions like what is happening in this animation? What is that called? Where have we seen this before? Etc. Students will also be taught at what boundaries rift valleys and mountain ranges form. The same types of questions will be asked. When students are viewing the animations, the teacher will ask these questions while circulating the room.
After the lecture, students will be paired to do the graham cracker activity. The activity sheet will be handed out. Students will collect the materials they need to perform the activity. Students will answer the question on the activity sheet.
(45 min)
Closing
The teacher will wrap the class up with a discussion about the graham cracker activity. Any questions that were not completed the students will do for homework. Students will also be informed about reviewing the structure of the earth sheet, plate tectonics and sea-floor spreading. The teacher should let the students know that she will be available after school that day if any students need extra help or would like to review.
(5 min)
Assessment
Students will be informally assessed during the activity as the teacher walks around the room listening to the student’s discussion and checking for understanding.
Homework
Students should review the structure of the earth with density information from the web quest worksheet, the theory of plate tectonics and sea floor spreading for quiz.
Additional Notes
The information for the graham cracker activity was modified from www.science-class.net